Major screw up-mostly my fault

[ChanceTLU]

This past weekend I went on my 10th and 11th open water dives and major screwed up, and now have lost all confidence as I feel that I almost killed myself.

Just to give a little background - I just got my PADI OW about a month ago and had absolutely no problems. I then went to Maldives and participated in 5 boat dives down to 20m. Once again, absolutely no problems.

This past weekend I went out with my instructor (not as a class, just a friendly dive) and another buddy just for fun and some practice. Well, his SPG was in 'bar' and mine and my buddies were in 'PSI x 10'. So basically, my buddy and I let him know when I was at 1000 PSI (guage showed 100x10, so we signaled 100). At this point, he just signaled okay and continued swimming along. After I got down to 500, I frantically begin signaling again to let him know that I was getting low. He finally got the hint and we began swimming back towards the beach to make our safety stop. By this time, my buddy had run out of air and was breathing on the instructor's octo.

With a minute left in the recommended safety stop, I began to feel the reg pulling and after a few breaths, I was empty. Instead of finishing the dive a minute early, I went ahead and signaled to another diver making the stop with us that I was out and wanted to breath on his secondary (this was supposed to be for extra practice). As of this point everything was okay and he handed me his octo, now is where things went wrong (remember, all of this is in 3m of water).

After purging and attempting to take a breath, I got nothing but water. I coughed, purged again, and got nothing but water. At this point, I panicked as I had probably been without air for about 30 seconds and had just breathed in two breaths of seawater. I then bolted for the surface.

I don't remember exhaling on the way to surface but think I was coughing all the way there. Because I didn't consciously remember to exhale, I now realize that I could have killed myself in only 3m of water. I feel like the only thing that saved me was the fact that I had already used all the air in my lungs attempting to purge the octo twice and coughing and that is what saved me.

We discussed the incident afterwards and I learned a few things. The other diver I attempted to breath off of (this guy was another person diving with our group, but not my buddy) told me that I put the reg in my mouth upside down, thus causing the breaths of water I continued to get. I honestly didn't realize that this would happen. I also learned that no matter what the instructor is doing, me and my buddy should have surfaced when we got low instead of blindly following the instructor wherever he is going.

The problem is that I have now lost all confidence in the water and am actually bit scared now, especially after reading all the incidence reports of people suffering overexpansion injuries in such shallow water.

And to top it all off, I had been having tightness in my chest for a few days after I dive. I went to a doctor and he wants me to get tested for exercise induced asthma and have a dive physical. I was actually diagnosed with EIA 10 years ago but had no problems since two-a-days (10 years ago) in high school football so I thought I had grown out of it.


Hopefully I get cleared at which time I will attempt to get a bunch of pool practice to regain my confidence before going out again.

I just wanted to get some of your thoughts on the above incident, and have any of you ever experienced an OOA incident and panicked?

 

[Thalassamania]

Don't loose confidence, frankly given your relative inexperience and the foreshortened courses that they teach now you did well. There are several lessons that you should take away from that dive, including the need to test your buddy's auxiliary at the start of the dive and the fact that a safety stop is not required and can be dispensed with if there is something more critical going on. Keep with it.

 

[In10se]

1st of all thanks for sharing your experience. I learned from it, but more importantly ... you obviously learned more about yourself as a diver. You're a better diver now than you were before this dive. The next episode where you get overwhelmed by feelings a fear will be more manageable. We all get the same feelings when we are in those situations, but how we deal with those feelings and what we learn from them them tells a lot about who we are. Next time you are in a bad situation you'll do better. You'll use the training and skills you developed in doing the drills to beat Murphy. Hey, I did not know that an upside down reg would only produce water. Now I know when that ever happens to just flip it over and go on with the business of breathing.

We live and learn, learn and live.

 

[Colliam7]

Well, his SPG was in 'bar' and mine and my buddies were in 'PSI x 10'. ... my buddy and I let him know when I was at 1000 PSI (guage showed 100x10, so we signaled 100).

When you did open water, how were you trained to communicate how much air you have left? Did you train with a metric gauge, and this was the first time using imperial? Did he say afterward that he thought you were signalling you had 100 bar? In a pre-dive safety check it is a good idea to verbalize the amount of air in each diver's tank, and that would be a point where divers would realize that they were tracking their air in different units, to hopefully avoid underwater confusion.

He finally got the hint and we began swimming back towards the beach to make our safety stop. By this time, my buddy had run out of air and was breathing on the instructor's octo.

So, you are diving with an instructor - not that the person was acting as an instructor in that case, but this was a person with presumably enough training and experience to become a professional - who allowed a shore dive to continue long enough for your buddy to run out of air, and then continued that air sharing process into a safety stop that was not necessarily required but only recommended? Hmm.

With a minute left in the recommended safety stop, I began to feel the reg pulling and after a few breaths, I was empty. Instead of finishing the dive a minute early, I went ahead and signaled to another diver making the stop with us that I was out and wanted to breath on his secondary (this was supposed to be for extra practice).

Early in my diving 'career' I had a similar experience, on an ocean wreck dive to 95 feet. I signaled my (equally inexperienced) buddy when I hit 900 psi (our agreed-upon pressure to start our ascent), and he blissfully swam off, with me chasing behind. When we finally got in sync, I was down to 500 and we started up. By this time, I was breathing a bit more vigorously than I would have if totally calm. I spent my safety stop watching my gauge. Finally, I had the same experience you describe, felt the reg 'pulling', and then nothing. So, up I went from 15 ft, rapidly. I wouldn't call it panic, but I certainly didn't waste time. I don't remember if I exhaled (as taught) or not. But, no harm resulted, other than to my confidence in my buddy.

Thal and others make good points. It was a good learning experience, at several levels. Yes, you should take the lessons to heart, but you performed reasonably well under the circumstances. Your confidence will probably actually be enhanced, long term, by having the experience, and getting yourself through it. A lot of people make mistakes when they are novices, despite adequate / good training. I am not altogether sure that adequate practice and repetition is provided during OW training in all cases, to make appropriate reactions instinctive, or to facilitate the ability to reason through problems that arise U/W. Don't beat yourself up on this. Hindsight is great, but what you did was not reckless or patently foolish. In fact, you showed remarkable presence of mind in many ways.

Hopefully I get cleared at which time I will attempt to get a bunch of pool practice to regain my confidence before going out again.

Nothing wrong with pool practice, or shallow open water practice for that matter, if it helps you regain confidence - try breathing off your reg inverted, practice your CESA from 15 ft, working on exhaling as you ascend.

 

[RJP]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I'd suggest that things went wrong on the surface before the dive. You guys should have reviewed each others gear and agreed on hand signals, especially as relates to signals for air checks and the like.

All in all, I think you did well. Learn from the experience and keep diving.

PS - the EIA thing is a bit worrisome. Did you get proper medical clearance for your OW class? You didn't happen to tell a little white lie on your medical form, did you? Not sure which agency you trained with, but the PADI forms asks "Have you ever had or do you currently have asthma, or wheezing with breathing, or wheezing with exercise?" (Emphasis mine.)

 

[ChanceTLU]

PS - the EIA thing is a bit worrisome. Did you get proper medical clearance for your OW class? You didn't happen to tell a little white lie on your medical form, did you? Not sure which agency you trained with, but the PADI forms asks "Have you ever had or do you currently have asthma, or wheezing with breathing, or wheezing with exercise?" (Emphasis mine.)

I trained with PADI. Due to where I currently live (Qatar), it is sometimes difficult to have checked/convey certian medical issues when checked. I had a full physical 16 months ago, am an avid weightlifter and squash player, so I considered myself at a good physical fitness level. After talking to some divers here, they made the chest tightness thing sound common and that it would be something that would clear up as I got more comfortable. I actually didn't even think about or remember the asthma issue until going to a doctor this week and he mentioned it could be a possibility. Because I have had absolutely no problems in 10 years and have never had an attack in my life, all through college football and other activities, I felt as though it was non-issue. In hindsight, it might have been a mistake, especially this weekend when I did two 50min dives in 93 degree water with a land temp of over 105. Since I am making a trip back to the states in a month, I will definitely get checked out now.

 

[spectrum]

Thanks for sharing that experience.

Here's my definition of a good dive:
1. Nobody got hurt
2. All of the gear came back
3. You learned something

Okay so it won't your best dive but it sure qualifies as a good one

* Where appropriate include units of measurement in the dive planning process
* Take responsibility for yourself
* Second stages don't always work that good upside down. Nothing but water us unusually crappy but they will often be a little misty, like breathing through a wet sponge.
* On a recreational dive the safety stop is an optional precaution and you were entirely within bounds to eliminate or abbreviate it for lack of air
* Never hold your breath

As for EIA that could be a problem. Get it checked go from there. Alergy induced asthma can often be dismissed but cold and exercise are inescapable and I don't know how control of those is insured. Good luck on that matter.

I would just take this incident as a learning experience and get back to diving when the lungs feel right and you get cleared of EIA. Make a special effort to do more air share drills to diffuse the uneasiness this incident has left you with. Also take a more comprehensive roll in the dive planning process.

Good luck,
Pete

 

[diver 85]

I'd like to have a little more info, what was your (max)depth and @ what time into the dive did you hit 1000 psi??.....

 

[ChanceTLU]

I'd like to have a little more info, what was your (max)depth and @ what time into the dive did you hit 1000 psi??.....

Max depth was 14.4m, dive time was 51min, I am not sure exactly at what time I hit 1000PSI, I would have to guess somewhere around the 35min mark. At this same site on check out dives I usually hit 50bar at about 38-40 min.

 

[TishaDee]

I don't remember exhaling on the way to surface but think I was coughing all the way there. Because I didn't consciously remember to exhale, I now realize that I could have killed myself in only 3m of water. I feel like the only thing that saved me was the fact that I had already used all the air in my lungs attempting to purge the octo twice and coughing and that is what saved me.

We discussed the incident afterwards and I learned a few things. The other diver I attempted to breath off of (this guy was another person diving with our group, but not my buddy) told me that I put the reg in my mouth upside down, thus causing the breaths of water I continued to get. I honestly didn't realize that this would happen. I also learned that no matter what the instructor is doing, me and my buddy should have surfaced when we got low instead of blindly following the instructor wherever he is going.

I'd have to agree with the others on here... don't give up and I think it's safe to say that you can stop beating up on yourself now.

The point is that you made a mistake, but I doubt you will ever make the same mistake again. You seem to have taken the error to heart and learned from it, which is exactly what mistakes are all about. The good news is nobody got hurt and your eyes are now going to be much more open as a diver.

As far as the medical concerns go, you may want to call DAN and speak with one of their doctors specializing in diving related injuries. They are wonderful to deal with and are full of knowledge on what your symptons could really mean based on the actual diving incident. They are all certified divers as well as being medical doctors and will undoubtadly be able to offer you far more insight then a traditional non diving MD.

Now to address your issue with the upside regulator. I can tell you that the vast majority of divers out there aren't aware of what is required to breathe out of an upside regulator (myself included). I recently stumbled across another thread on here that dealt specifically with this issue. The common denominator in it, is that many experienced divers had never heard of it before, so you can't beat yourself up for not knowing it as a newly trained diver.

I'd suggest reading the thread and practicing it's suggesstions (under the watchful care of your instructor) so that you can conquer your fears of a similiar situation happening again and restore some of your confidence. Here's a link to the thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/new-divers-those-considering-diving/246280-hello-just-quick-question.html

Hopefully, you won't let this incident be the reason you give up such a soulful and rewarding sport. If anything, I would use this incident as an excuse (not that you need one) to enroll in more training classes. Your OW class isn't designed to make you the safest and most prepared diver, but instead is geared towards giving you the skills necessary to perform the basic tasks required. Continuing on with your education will not only give you more skills towards preventing and dealing with nasty situations, but also will make you more confident in your own abilities. Being knowledgable and confident are keys to safe and enjoyable diving and can even improve your air consumption. Now that's a combo you can't shake a stick at.

I personally recommend that you pursue the advanced open water course and the EFR/CPR/AED/O2 & Rescue courses. These courses will put you through many mock emergencies and have you repeat the appropriate steps over and over until it's something you can do in autopilot.

It's always easier to give up and walk away, then it is to get back up on the horse and keep on with the practicing and learning. But at the end of the day, it's always immensly more rewarding to see yourself through something you didn't think you were capable of.

Either way, good luck!